Human Capital

This event explores the specific impacts of COVID on individuals in each life stage, the related risks to their futures, and policy options countries can consider to help address the challenges.

Education systems around the world face significant climate risks. At the same time, education is a hugely powerful but significantly under-utilized instrument to promote climate action. Three young activists, from Nigeria, Pakistan, and Peru, will deliver condensed TED-style talks, sharing their personal experience of how climate change is affecting education and how education can and must be a key part of the solution. 

Human capital is essential for meeting the objectives of addressing climate change and fostering development. Without focused investments in people, climate change will accelerate global poverty, exacerbate inequities, and will itself continue unabated. Climate-smart human capital can alleviate the worst impacts of climate change on people and can also empower people to drive the green transition. Join us to discuss how putting human capital at the heart of climate policies can deliver good outcomes for both people and for the planet. 

This event will highlight key takeaways from the closed-door Human Capital Ministerial Conclave with focus on how countries can invest in social protection, productive inclusion, and nutrition-sensitive policies to not only avert setbacks to human capital but also to strengthen these critical outcomes for long term growth and productivity.

How should countries #EndLearningPoverty and prioritize investment decisions to ensure the pandemic does not permanently set back education and employment outcomes, and rebuild human capital losses? Join the discussion on Oct. 12.

This virtual event, convened by the World Bank, launched the Quality Early Learning: Nurturing Children’s Potential volume to highlight the importance of investing in quality early childhood education (ECE).

The event will provide an opportunity to review the macro-economic situation in the Africa region, given the recent fluctuations in commodity and food prices, and focus on social protection strategies that can help build resilience in African economies and create jobs, as they recover from multiple shocks in current troubled times. 

Putting people first through investing in human capital – the knowledge, skills, and health that people need to achieve their potential – is critical for sustainable, inclusive growth and poverty reduction.

The new Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP) offers guidance on how education systems in low- and middle-income countries can respond to the damage caused by the pandemic and make sure that learning needs for all students, especially the most marginalized, are addressed.

Joins us to discuss how nature loss is an economic and development issue, and how it is linked to climate change, as well as pathways to undertake both nature and climate-smart development in the future, including through expanding our economic toolkit beyond GDP to account for the wealth provided by nature.

Our 7th #OneSouthAsia Conversation will focus on these potentials and challenges of leveraging technologies to build human capital and help South Asia manage risks and shocks: how can it overcome regional barriers, promote cross-country collaboration to support recovery from COVID and other shocks, and build human capital and adaptable resilience in the region.

The World Bank’s focus on foundational skills requires that issues of language and Language of Instruction be brought to the forefront of education policy discussions. Poor Language of Instruction policies harm learning, access, equity, cost-effectiveness, and inclusion. Yet, inappropriate Language of Instruction policies affect too many students in low- and middle-income countries.

The primary goals of the Youth Summit are to:  Empower youth to explore innovative ideas to tackle development challenges​ Provide youth with the tools to build and engage in impactful projects​ Promote dialogue between youth, the WBG, and other key stakeholders globally The theme for the 2021 Summit is Resilent Recovery for People and Planet.

Tune in to hear Sandie Okoro's insights on the intersectionality of race and gender, as well as her experiences and advice on having a career in international development. 

In Sub-Saharan Africa, evidence shows that investing in women’s and girls’ education, health and economic opportunities is fundamental to realizing the continent’s human capital potential and spurring sustainable economic growth. Over the past few decades, countries in the region have made considerable progress addressing a range of outcomes that are critical for women’s and girls’ empowerment, including legal reforms on the age of marriage and gender-based violence. However, women and girls remain particularly vulnerable by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated existing gender gaps and inequalities. The COVID-19 response must therefore be centered on protecting, preserving and sustaining financial and social investments in women and girls. As part of the Human Capital Project Global Forum, which brings together government focal points from around the world, this event will highlight testimonies from voices with first-hand experience and expertise on why protecting and advancing women’s and girls’ social and economic empowerment in the immediate and ...

Bringing the focus to gender, Melinda Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, explains how women and girls are disproportionately affected, suffering from “shadow” pandemics and Mirai Chatterjee, Director of Social Security at the Self-Employed Women's Association in India, highlights the need to invest in frontline health workers, particularly women.

Learning poverty—the percentage of children unable to read by the age of 10—is at the heart of global poverty. Tackling all the fundamental steps that are needed to deliver the outcome of a child who can read by their first decade of life requires action across multiple arenas. To learn, children must first survive and thrive; families must have access to quality services; girls must have the same opportunities as boys; parents must have economic opportunities and countries must have policy approaches that allow all of this to flourish. Learning poverty is inextricably linked to global poverty. Join us to hear from speakers, who will highlight the actions being taken to tackle this fundamental shift to achieving stronger country outcomes. 

Globally, 151 million children are stunted. Millions of children are in school but not learning. There is an urgent human capital crisis – in South Africa, across the continent, and around the world. There is no way to achieve our goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity unless we help countries invest more – and more effectively – in their people. In a speech at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will discuss the state of the world’s human capital and what must happen now to enable young people – and countries – to compete in the economy of the future.

A key determinant of a country’s competitiveness is its human talent—the skills, knowledge, and experience of its population, better known as “human capital.” Disparities in productivity begin in the earliest stages of life and continue to be exacerbated throughout an individual’s life, impacted by a variety of factors including health, nutrition, and education. Recently, innovation has ushered in a new future where technology and uniquely human characteristics are leveraged in equal measure. This year’s Youth Summit will seek to provide youth with a forum to share their ideas and learn from one another, encouraging the creation of innovative and equitable initiatives and the development of capabilities required in our ever-evolving future. View the agenda here!

Investing in people’s nutrition, health care, quality education, and skills is crucial to developing a productive society. Join us for a discussion on the urgency of addressing the human capital gap and how collaborative social accountability can help governments and civil society implement innovative and effective solutions to promote investments in human capital. This session is part of the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) Global Partners Forum, which brings together more than 300 practitioners and thought-leaders from civil society organizations, governments, academia, foundations and businesses, to provide a unique space to reflect on social accountability. The 2018 Forum, titled “Money Matters: Public Finance and Social Accountability for Human Capital”, seeks to specifically build awareness of the Human Capital Project and explore the potential contributions of social accountability towards the project’s success. To learn more and view the agenda, visit: http://bit.ly/GPSAForum18

The event builds on the forthcoming Africa’s Pulse report’s special theme: The role of human capital in boosting productivity. A highly skilled, healthy labor force plays an important role in driving economic growth. It facilitates the adoption of rapidly changing technologies and enhances the ability to develop new technologies. How can Africa capitalize on its human capital to ramp up productivity and close large and persistent gaps in income per capita relative to advanced countries?

Months after World Bank President Jim Kim announced the Human Capital Project, global leaders gathered in Washington to discuss the urgent and critical importance of investing in people to prepare countries for the economy of the future. In a lively discussion moderated by Ali Velshi of NBC News and MSNBC, Dr. Kim joined Bill Gates, principal founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Gates Foundation; and Penny Mordaunt, the UK’s secretary of state for international development, to make the case for investing in people. Against the backdrop of rapid technological and labor market changes, the speakers had one overpowering message: investing in people—through education, health, nutrition, social protection and jobs—is the sturdiest way forward.   From why the world needs a Human Capital Index to link key investments in people to economic growth, to how to finance high-impact investments in people, speakers provided unique perspectives. They concluded that building human capital is indeed a project for the world, ...

This is a Facebook Live interview.  As part of our Spring Meetings 2018 Interview Series, we will be talking with Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, to discuss the urgent and critical importance of investing more and more efficiently in people to prepare countries for the economy of the future.  Watch the replay!

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim opened this action-oriented Summit with a strong investment case for human capital, which is a critical development priority for the world. A World Bank Annual Meetings Flagship event, the Human Capital Summit provided a platform for world leaders to make commitments and share the actions they are taking to invest in people in their respective countries and/or globally. There is new evidence today that human capital is a clear path to ending extreme poverty and boosting national wealth and economic growth. In fact, the World Bank Group's Human Capital project, announced by President Kim at Columbia University last week is an accelerated effort to encourage investment in people. The Summit today focused specifically on several key themes: the early years, nutrition, universal health coverage (UHC), quality of education, skills and jobs, youth, and women and girls.  President Kim was joined by H.E. Paul Kagame, President, Republic of Rwanda; Luis Caputo, Minister ...

Investing in the early years is one of the smartest investments a country can make to break the cycle of poverty, address inequality, and boost productivity later in life. Today, millions of young children are not reaching their full potential because of inadequate nutrition, lack of early stimulation and learning, and exposure to stress. Investments in the physical, mental, and emotional development of children -- from before birth until they enter primary school – are critical for the future productivity of individuals and for the economic competitiveness of nations. Join us as country leaders make commitments to reduce chronic malnutrition in children and expand access to early childhood development services by 2020 to ensure that children everywhere can thrive.

The Global Human Resources Forum is a non-profit foundation best known for its annual international conference in Seoul, South Korea, which brings together opinion leaders, business executives, policy makers, intellectuals and journalists to discuss pressing issues facing the world, especially education, human resources development and talent management. The theme of this year's forum is “Human Resources for Trust and Integration”. The event will open with a live interview with Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President, conducted by Sung-Mo Steve Kang, President of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology; followed by a keynote speech by John Gottman.

Over the next decade, one billion people will enter the job market --the global economy will need to create 5 million jobs each month simply to keep employment rates constant. Securing good jobs for youth is a global priority. This event will unveil a global initiative that addresses the pervasive challenge of youth employment and underemployment. It is closely associated with the World Bank Group’s ambitious goal: to eliminate extreme poverty and to boost shared prosperity for the bottom 40 percent by 2030. For the first time, this partnership will link the relevant actors from different spheres—governments, corporate actors, international organizations and civil society—to generate and share learning about what works, and to leverage this shared understanding through increased investments in proven solutions.